Cap gains: in most cases in my experience (not a lawyer, ask a lawyer, standard caveats, etc.), the majority of a web business sale is going to be categorized as 'goodwill'. That is an intangible asset and will be taxed at cap gains rates at the federal level (state level may vary). Non-compete: aga...

"Past results are no guarantee for future returns" It depends. Sometimes our investment decisions are based on the past. The number one reason given for using "passive" instead of "active" is that only a few [actively managed funds] have managed to beat their index counterpart. So, based on past pe...

I understand it adds diversification--but as far as I can see, it primarily adds volatility to a portfolio. Plus, when I run Portfolio Visualizer comparing US vs Ex-US, the ONLY years Intl wins are 1986-1988. Yes, I know it did well last year. I didnt hold any intl until I got a newsletter from Van...

... and the story of it reducing risk or providing a "diversification benefit" really hasn't proven justified - it's period dependent - pick a period where it has worked and I'll show you another where it hasn't. Diversification is precisely helpful because some things do better than others over va...

Plus, when I run Portfolio Visualizer comparing US vs Ex-US, the ONLY years Intl wins are 1986-1988. https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Callan_periodic_table_of_investment_returns I think you're running the numbers wrong. Also, international beat US from 2000-2010 (overall, not every year). Long time ...

Geographical, economic, political and currency diversification. Also: hindsight is 20/20 - some countries do better than others, and it depends on period. If you think the US is exceptional and the market can't price country-specific risks/returns, then your crystal ball is clearer than mine.

People often ask what purpose cash has in a portfolio. Cash serves two purposes; it’s either waiting to be invested or it’s waiting to be spent. Rick Ferri I read this as you saying 'cash is not an investment' - correct? For the record, cash and cash equivalents are composed of investments that mat...

I confess to having engaged in Simplicity Heresy in that my IPS is probably (IIRC) about 8 pages long. I was greatly influenced by a confluence of writers outside the fields of economics, investing, and personal finance regarding the dangers of confusing outcome with process in decision-making. I w...

Thanks everyone. Just hate dealing with the hard sell. They will often ask if you want PAS or a portfolio review. If you say no, the will not push it all. I have had 3 different Flagship Reps over the past 10 years and they have all been very helpful and never sales-y. Same for me. Polite, very fri...

Investing $37.6 billion with a time frame of infinity is different than what individual investors do. With $37.6 billion, you don’t have to buy an index fund, you can run your own index fund. For reference, Schwab’s total market etf SCHB has about $11.6 billion in AUM. That's a very selective pick....

Investing $37.6 billion with a time frame of infinity is different than what individual investors do. With $37.6 billion, you don’t have to buy an index fund, you can run your own index fund. For reference, Schwab’s total market etf SCHB has about $11.6 billion in AUM. That's a very selective pick....

I'm sincerely not trying to be difficult here, and am sure you know a lot more about this than I do, but I'm still trying to understand. In general, endowments have certain funding requirements they need to meet both short- and long-term. That demands a return that takes into account risk b/c one ca...

Why doesn't Havard chose 3 fund folio? Do they think they are smarter than market? Endowments, like pensions have the problem of diversifying risk, while maximizing returns. It's very difficult to take billions of dollars and invest it in index funds without overweighting to stocks, regions, indust...

Ugh, I should learn to bookmark things better. A while ago (on here, I think) someone posted a good chart showing how different asset classes performed at different inflation rates. Now I can't find it! If anyone knows what I'm talking about, I'd love a link to it. Anyway, I am still accumulating, b...

Is there something in CA... For many people it's family or a job that isn't portable. You could argue that it you need to pay 5x your income for a "starter house" , you're getting paid very little, and your job isn't worth keeping. That, or maybe you're just a normal person living in the Bay Area ....

I realized that volatility isn't risk for me and that inflation is a major risk for me. Since I'm very risk adverse, I am 100% equities. I strongly suspect that if inflation is your biggest fear, mixing some TIPS in with your equities would help. In high-inflation environments, equities tend to do ...

A few open questions for anyone who wants to venture an answer: 1) What would someone do who agreed with Larry's prognosis but didn't want to venture outside of, say, Vanguard funds? 2) I know their histories are limited, but has he or anyone back-tested these funds alone or in combination, in theor...

VBTLX isn't tax efficient and, as others have pointed out, it also carries a mix of risks that are hard to compare directly. I would compare to VSIAX, intermediate-term Treasuries. Indeed, I had the same question recently, and given the state savings of Treasuries versus the federal savings of tax-e...

Should I be comparing the APR of a CD to the equivalent average annual returns on the bonds (in this case 2.02% for 1yr)? Use SEC yield for funds. The other numbers are backward looking, like it would be to say "last year I made 2.5% in a 1 year CD at X Bank" -- well, that was then and I need to lo...

Whenever I've run the numbers on state-specific versus federal muni funds (adjusting for taxes), they have come out around even (and that's being in CA, a high-state-tax state). When comparing muni funds, it's better to compare the taxes assuming the same yield; any yield difference is compensation...

So, is my case a good situation to Tax Loss Harvest? Say, I sell these bonds and take a loss of $2,600... I can apply this loss to my ordinary income and get 33% back? So, in this situation I decrease my "losses" from $2,600 to $1,742. Then I can wait 30 days to avoid wash sale rules and pickup VBT...

You have just demonstrated why you should not hold taxable bonds in taxable when you're in the 33% tax bracket. http://performance.morningstar.com/fund/tax-analysis.action?t=VBTLX&region=usa&culture=en_US Paul What's the alternative if you're out of space in tax-deferred? Put everything in munis? T...

A lot of tail-wagging-the-dog advice here. Don't let taxes be the only factor in your decision. Step 0 is to educate yourself on all your holdings to decide which you want to keep. For anything you don't understand or are unwilling to devote the time to, sell ASAP. Or to quickly simplify your portf...

Personally I would move away from any "emerging market" funds, not only has it gotten nowhere so long, but I think it will continue to go nowhere because emerging markets are corrupt so you dont ever get accurate anything and all their stocks are corrupt due to false numbers, data, bribary etc... I...

Whenever I've run the numbers on state-specific versus federal muni funds (adjusting for taxes), they have come out around even (and that's being in CA, a high-state-tax state). I would recommend doing the math on your tax bracket with actual fund yields. When the results are close to the same, I ha...

Something else to consider: use the Vanguard 'Portfolio Watch' tool set to see what your actual current breakdowns are for stocks/bonds, US/international, etc... it will help you keep track of the big picture as you try to wind down these individual holdings.

Well ... huh. I didn't know Wealthfront or any of the robos traded individual stocks. Was that your choice? Painful, regardless. Here's what I'd recommend, or do myself, more or less in order: 1) Hold anything with short-term gains long enough for them to become long-term gains 2) Assess your future...

So just to clarify along the same lines, those who hold the Vanguard or Fidelity total international fund, are they protected against the USD being weak in the future? If so, then why isn't international investing accepted unanimously on this forum (a lot of folks only like holding the total US sto...

I don’t own a dozen stocks because rebalancing on my own would be a pain - also I saw a study that showed owning the largest 40 companies provided substantially the same diversification effects as the S&P 500 so I wouldn’t be too opposed to only having 40 companies. Citation please? Quoting Bill Be...

As for Emerging markets suffering from corruption, I suspect the market knows that already. Interesting to note the current statistics from Vanguard’s website below. Though emerging markets and the U.S. market currently have almost identical projected earnings growth rates and return-on-equity, the...

Personally I would move away from any "emerging market" funds, not only has it gotten nowhere so long, but I think it will continue to go nowhere because emerging markets are corrupt so you dont ever get accurate anything and all their stocks are corrupt due to false numbers, data, bribary etc... I...

International/emerging have looked like better deals for years now. At a few points, I thought idly about tilting more in that direction (I'm 50/50 US/international) - it would not have worked out to my advantage. To critics of OP: Bogle has himself tilted his portfolio modestly based on market valu...

Thanks for tracking that, Robert - fascinating stuff! For anyone who couldn't get the link to work ... here's the most recent I could find: https://www.advisorperspectives.com/images/91bcbdf4c8cec3f01a91cfa33cd46ba3a69d238e.png Glad to see my small cash, moderate emerging markets (and 50% overall in...

I'm going to try and parse this a bit. Hello all, Hello, and welcome to the forum! Given the fact that the fed is going to raise interest rates through the year, I'm trying to figure out for my short term bond allocation in my portfolio This knowledge is priced into the market. No sense in shortenin...

FWIW, I just had to make this decision, and went with VSIGX over VFIUX (I prefer to stick to Vanguard funds, so those were the options). I decided the lower expense ratio, simplicity of indexing, and vague possible benefits of an ETF share class made it a potentially better choice.

I think I Bonds are great, and hold I Bonds myself (along with EE, TIPS and Treasuries). I think using them in a 3-fund would be fine. That said, some potential downsides you might consider: 1) If you're picking I Bonds over putting money in tax-advantaged space, you could lose out on tax-advantaged...

There are diminishing returns as you approach 100% stocks - diversification is the only free lunch. Check out this link from Vanguard, and decide if the risk was worth what you got historically for going beyond around 70% or 80% stocks: https://personal.vanguard.com/us/insights/saving-investing/mode...

Well this is fascinating. I didn't even realize there were two different intermediate-term Treasury funds at Vanguard! I also concur that the active management of VFIUX could give that fund better returns, but the capital gains that the fund managers create seem to make that fund less suitable for a...

For 10 basis points, take the Treasuries. Municipal bonds are almost always safe, but Treasuries have substantially lower credit risk. That's worth paying a little extra for. If you were really itching to save those 10 bps, you could probably build your own Treasury latter and not have to pay the f...

Thank you all so much for your insights and opinions! So glad (as always) to have folks on this forum to help with things like this. I am still thinking about where to set the spread rule (for munis vs. Treasuries in the future), but definitely by .1%, and maybe as high as .5% makes sense. If you ca...

I got spooked at the returns of Dec 2017 and Jan 2018, and rebalanced (stocks to bonds) a few times before rebalancing bands were hit. It worked out. Was thinking I should maybe swap back a bit last week, then forgot, but it's fine - I'm still basically right on my target allocation. So I've been wi...

It's a no brainer. Treasuries for the win. The yield is good enough, and I want that "flight to safety" if the stock market really falls. For me, as long as the after-tax yield on Treasuries is within 1% of what I could get from CDs or munis, I always go with the Treasuries. Of course, I followed H...

My IPS calls for 50/50 TIPS/Treasuries on the bond side, but with flexibility for optimizing around taxes.* For various reasons, about half my bond allocation is in taxable. Right now, I have Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax Exempt in taxable and Vanguard Inflation-Protected Securities in tax-deferred...